The man who beat Galileo
The UK is currently engaged in an effort to subvert the celebrations for the International Year of Astronomy. While we’re clearly in favour of IYA as a whole, it appears that far too much credit is being given to that notorious Italian, Galileo. Sure, he discovered the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn, not that he knew what the latter were, but he wasn’t the first to map the Moon. That, it seems, was an englishman called Thomas Harriot.
You’ll be hearing a lot more of Harriot, but in the meantime I present my modest contribution to this rebellion : a 365 days of astronomy podcast staring everyone’s favourite astronomical historian, Allan Chapman.
(And if you haven’t already subscribed to 365 days of astronomy then you really should do. It’s the only way to include a daily dose of astronomical content in your carefully balanced diet.
on April 6th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
[...] list – 15th January 2009 The man who beat Galileo Chris Lintott’s Universe Oh yes, Galileo wasn’t the first to peer at the heavens through a [...]
on July 8th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Hi Chris,
Firstly for some reason this years season of sky at night was almost completely missed, my fault entirely, i wish the bbc would put the full 30 mins on a sun morning/afternoon instead of a snippet, its bad enough waiting a month per episode! especially when there is all too much “fame hog” tv these days (i sound positively geriatric but assure you im under 33!)
A note on Jupiter’s mysterious turbulent atmosphere, i have always been fascinated by it, its beauty and almost feverish scale and ferocity, i have had a theory for a while that the different rates and direction of spin, the eye are attributed to varying temperatures and density within the fluid of the atmosphere, like cold cream in hot coffee! low and behold someone has created an experiment to ask why cream and coffee behave this way at a university in bath and Connecticut, they dont refer to possible astronomical parallels, but it made me smile to see that an experiment can look awfully similar and pertinent to other fields of study.
what do you think
on July 8th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
this is the link to the experiment news http://www.physorg.com/news197743021.html